Tales 70/Page 1

I'm not sure if the title is going to stick but for now I'm calling this "Return To New York Story". Different for this book is that it's being drawn on tone paper and I'm doing it a bigger size than what is normal for me (10x15).
Page 1 apes a panel right from the old Eastman and Laird RTNY series- issue 19, page 27 to be specific. I did this I suppose, to establish the connection between the two books- however, no where else did I take panels from the old book. Well, one other spot (the end of the fight scene in the barn is dramatically the same). I tried to make this retelling different and in a few spots I had to seriously compress time.
I'll try to post more soon.

Michelangelo

Compared to most of the commissions that I've been doing lately, this is a pretty simple one. There's something about it however, that I really like.
Dane Shobe contacted me and asked if I and some of the other studio dudes would want to work on a jam-type drawing, with him included. As with all J-D requests, enthusiasm for something like this was low to non-existent. When I told him this, he was bummed out but we compromised by him having me do this Mikey on a sheet and leaving him room to do a Turtle of his own underneath it. I hope I get to see the final version.

Turtles and Casey Groupshot

This piece is so fresh that I'm not even sure that the tones are dry but I wanted to post it before I went home tonight. This groupshot was asked from me by a fan named Ben and will go out tomorrow to it's new home in Lancashire, England.

Pimiko vs Lady Shredder

Andrew, I believe, is a big fan of the Image Turtle series and has hit me up for a couple of commissions. An earlier one of his was the Cyber Don/BSR drawing and this, of course, is his most recent. It's funny- I actually had to have him send me reference for these 2 characters as I'm not wicked familiar with that series of comics. Nothing against them, they're just sorta outside my sphere.

Return to Blog

I took a break from the blog-- I think it was a combination of the official "end" of Mirage, combined perhaps with my natural hibernatory urges that occur at this time of year. Anyways, I'm still here and continuing to chip away at the ever smaller block of Turtle work that I have left to finish.

Today, I should complete the Jake Black Tales issue (68). So, with that in mind I thought that I'd post a page from that book. This is page 23, which features the guys getting it on with some nasty cancer cells. It's been a fun issue to work on- with some surreal, almost alien-like environments. Also, fun for me is that Dan asked if I couldn't come up with a little 2 page back up story that's to appear in that same issue--- tomorrow I'll try to at least to get that pencilled. I think the publishing schedule is a little off these days, but this book is due to be released in March, I believe.

Then that leaves Tales 70- my last Turtle book. I approach that issue with a really odd feeling. I'm sure once I start drawing, that it will seem normal, just like any other comic-- but it really is way more than that. It makes very tangible, the finality of this relationship that I've had with these characters. Don't really know if that makes sense but my brain has been very much in wander mode lately...

Hope you like the page.